Medical equipment for examination of a patient sometimes comprises an examination chair, an instrument stand which supports some of the medical equipment, and a table connected to the stand via a series of adjustable arms. The table supports additional medical equipment, for example, a slit lamp biomicroscope. The slit lamp is an instrument consisting of a high-intensity light source that can be focused to shine as a slit. It is used in conjunction with a microscope. The lamp helps examination by allowing a doctor to look at the anterior segment, or frontal structures of the human eye, which includes the eyelid, sclera, conjunctiva, iris, natural crystalline lens, and cornea. The binocular slit-lamp examination provides stereoscopic magnified view of the eye structures in striking detail, enabling exact anatomical diagnoses to be made for many eye conditions. Combined with special lenses the examination of retinal structures can be accomplished in detail. While a patient is seated in the examination chair, he rests his chin and forehead on a support (chin strap) to steady the head. Using the biomicroscope, the optometrist or ophthalmologist then proceeds to examine the patients eye. The slit lamp is mounted on the table, which is in turn adjustably connected to the stand. This adjustability allows the doctor to treat patients of varying heights and sizes.
However, known medical equipment stands have several limitations in the range of patients which can be conveniently examined, especially with respect to patients confined to a wheelchair. For example, the table is typically too wide to be placed between the arms of a standard wheelchair. Also, legs connecting the stand to the table were previously designed to work with an examination chair which is much higher than standard wheelchairs, and therefore cannot get low enough to examine a patient bound to a wheelchair. Moreover, the legs have previously been attached to the table on the underside of the table near the center of the table, such that the legs partially obstructs area below the table, requiring the table to be raised to clear over a patient's lower body, for example. Typically all of this would require a wheelchair bound patient to be lifted out of his wheelchair and moved to a separate examination chair. Clearly, this makes known medical equipment stands inconvenient for wheelchair bound patients. While some examination stands have examination chairs which are movable along a track, this is not a practical option when the examination room is relatively small, as is often the case with ambulatory surgical facilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,670,003 to Kendrick, assigned to the assignee of the present invention addresses several of these problems with an elegant leg assembly which can reach to the wheelchair bound patient and which also reduces the size of the table such that it fits between the arms of the wheelchair. However, the phoropter (the instrument used by optometrists and ophthalmologists to measure an individuals refractive error and to determine his eyeglass prescription) of many off the shelf ophthalmic examination stands may, in some instances, still be unable to be conveniently accessed by a wheelchair bound patient. It would be desirable to provide a patient examination assembly where all medical equipment is convenient for essentially all patients, including wheelchair bound patients.